Kobe Bryant Talks About How the Sexual Assault Charges Pressed Against Him In 2003 Changed His Life

Earlier today, we provided you with a clip of an interview that Graham Bensinger did with Kobe Bryant recently. That clip featured him discussing his beef with Shaquille O'Neal. And, while it was interesting, it's really only the tip of the iceberg in regards to the full interview, which is available now. In it, Kobe talks about a bunch of different things, including his impending retirement, his relationship with Phil Jackson, and, most interestingly, the sexual assault charges that were brought against him in Colorado back in 2003. In that portion of the interview, he discusses how the rape allegations changed him as a person.

"There's times where it just seems like days are just endless, like this is never going to end," he says." "This feeling, this dark time is just never going to be over. Once you go through something like that, you can't help but be different. You can't help but have a better sense of who you are…As a person, it just really teaches you how to let go and how to trust and not try to control everything. And that decreases your stress level ten-fold."

Kobe also says that, as a result of the sexual assault charges, he has better perspective on his life. "Other players can't relate to that sort of stuff, to that type of pressure," he said. "That's real pressure. That's life pressure. It's not hitting the game-winning shot. If you make it, you win. If you miss it, no. That's not pressure."

Watch the whole interview above. Even if you're not necessarily a Kobe fan, it's worth a look.